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About NUI Galway

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Dr Eilís Dowd

Contact Details

Biography

Eilís Dowd was appointed as a Lecturer in Pharmacology in NUI, Galway in September 2006. Prior to that, Eilís completed six years of post-doctoral research in Cardiff University, McGill University (Montreal), and Cambridge University. Her PhD research was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology at Edinburgh University, and was awarded in 1999.

Within the Department of Pharmacology at NUI, Galway, Eilís is currently involved in teaching pharmacology to undergraduate science and medical students, as well as post-graduate science students.

Eilís’ current research is focused on developing and validating novel pharmacological, cell and gene therapies for Parkinson’s disease. Her current research is funded by the Irish Health Research Board, Science Foundation Ireland, the Irish Research Council, and the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology. Some of Eilís’ previous research projects were funded by the Wellcome Trust (UK) and the Parkinson’s Disease Society (UK).

Research Interests

Parkinson’s disease is a motor disorder and the main symptoms of the disease are caused by the progressive degenerative of dopamine-containing neurons from a discrete region of the brain. Current therapy only provides relief from the symptoms of the disease - it does not offer a ’cure’, nor does it halt the unrelenting degeneration of the dopaminergic neurons.

Eilís’ research is focused on experimental approaches that offer the possibility of halting the degenerative process or even ’curing’ the disease. These include developing and validating novel neuroprotective or neuroreparative pharmacotherapies, gene therapies or cell-based therapies.

'TIME-COURSE OF NIGROSTRIATAL NEURODEGENERATION AND NEUROINFLAMMATION IN THE 6-HYDROXYDOPAMINE-INDUCED AXONAL AND TERMINAL LESION MODELS OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE IN THE RAT'
Walsh, S,Finn, DP,Dowd, E (2011) 'TIME-COURSE OF NIGROSTRIATAL NEURODEGENERATION AND NEUROINFLAMMATION IN THE 6-HYDROXYDOPAMINE-INDUCED AXONAL AND TERMINAL LESION MODELS OF PARKINSON'S DISEASE IN THE RAT'. Neuroscience, 175 :251-261 [DOI] [Details]

Irish Journal of Medical Science
Walsh S, Finn DP, Gorman AM and Dowd E. (2011) The effect of pharmacological activation or blockade of the endocannabinoid system on the development of levodopa-induced dyskinesias in a rat model Irish Journal of Medical Science , pp.180: 20-20 [Details]

Conference Poster

Year

Publication

(2012)

An Investigation of the Translatability of the Topical Fibrin Scaffold System for Neural Application.
Moloney, T., Kulkarni, M., Pandit, A. and Dowd, E. (2012) An Investigation of the Translatability of the Topical Fibrin Scaffold System for Neural Application. Conference Poster [Details]

Reviews

Year

Publication

(2013)

Biomaterial approaches to gene therapies for neurodegenerative disorders of the CNS.
Newland, B,Dowd, E,Pandit, A (2013) Biomaterial approaches to gene therapies for neurodegenerative disorders of the CNS. Reviews [DOI] [Details]